PDF Summary:The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank

The Diary of a Young Girl is one of the most acclaimed works of the 20th century. Written by Anne Frank from 1942 to 1944, the diary reveals the humanity of those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands. Anne wrote about her experiences with anger, love, puberty, and fear as she and her family hid from an occupying force that wished to see her and her Jewish counterparts dead. Tight quarters, limited food, and the inability to go outside took an emotional toll on Anne and her fellow residents. This led to tensions that reflected the raging war taking place outside of their hiding place.

(continued)...

Inside of the Annex, Dussel’s rapport with his fellow residents continued to deteriorate. From throwing a fit over having to turn over their radio to the Germans to stating that the English were idiots for not destroying Italy in its entirety, Dussel’s attitude began to wear on the others. Though he would apologize and swear to be “better,” the residents no longer believed in his hollow promises.

Anne stopped speaking as frequently as she had in the past. She recognized that the more she kept to herself, the less annoyed she would get with other people and vice versa. However, despite trying to stay away from the fighting, Anne developed severe anxiety and depression. She used valerian drops to try to ease her mental woes, but they didn’t do much. She said that laughter would be the best medicine, but that there wasn’t much to laugh and smile about in the Annex.

October-December 1943

As the year came to an end, the residents of the Annex prepared for their second winter. Though illness and constant fighting plagued morale, the holidays provided a brief reprieve from the stress of isolation and hiding. This glimmer of hope prompted the residents to be more relaxed with their rules and restrictions. While this gave them a taste of “normal” life again, it also put them at risk of possible detection.

As the winter months began, Anne’s depression and anxiety got worse. The combination of constant fear and crippling loneliness led Anne to lose her appetite and sleep for significant periods of time. She said that sleep made the days go by faster and the fear less impactful.

However, as she began to sleep more, she started having nightmares. In one recurring dream, Anne would see her classmate, Hanneli, dressed in rags and crying out in desperation. She’d ask Anne to save her, but Anne never could. She prayed to God to save her former classmate from her torment. In later dreams, Hanneli was joined by Anne’s grandmother.

In October, the van Daans ran out of funds and could no longer afford to give their helpers money to pay for supplies. Mr. and Mrs. van Daan had constant fights about their financial state and often disagreed on how to handle their lack of funds. In addition to financial arguments, the van Daan’s constantly fought with Dussel. These conflicts got so bad that Dussel and the van Daans refused to speak to one another for a period of time.

On top of everything, the distribution of food became problematic. The Franks accused the van Daans of keeping food from the rest of the residents. They were frying fewer potatoes for the group and weren’t giving out oils and meat fairly.

1944

1944 marked a change for Anne. In her diary entries, she began discussing changes in her body as well as new perspectives on life in the Annex, her relationships with her fellow residents, and her future after the war.

As the new year began, Anne spent time reflecting on her life before the Annex. Before going into hiding, Anne didn’t think about “serious things” very often. She fought much harder for the approval of her family and allowed her emotions to dictate her behavior.

While she recognized that she still had a lot of growing up to do, she noted the ways in which she had matured and the ways in which life in the Annex had impacted her development. For example, she recognized that she’d painted her mother and Mrs. van Daan in a negative light in her older diary entries. While she still didn’t want to spend a lot of time with either of them, she admitted that her depiction of them was harsher than necessary.

January-February 1944

As her loneliness grew, Anne decided to confide in Peter. Though, at first, he was an outlet for Anne to vent to, she began to take an actual liking to him. She described the warm feeling she got looking into his eyes and making him blush. Initially, she insisted that she wasn’t in love with him, but her affections grew the more time she spent with him.

Soon, Peter started to confide in Anne. She appreciated his honesty and was glad that someone trusted her. In addition to his frustrations, he also talked to Anne about his dreams and insecurities. He told her that he wanted to go to the Dutch East Indies to work and that he wished he weren’t Jewish because life seemed to be so much easier for non-Jewish people. He also suffered from a serious inferiority complex and longed for affection.

As Anne and Peter started to spend significant time together, Anne started to develop romantic feelings for him. She talked about him constantly and was upset on days they didn’t speak much. She tried to find excuses to go to his room to talk and began referring to Peter as “him” in her diary. Even his smallest actions had a profound impact on her. For example, she once said that she started glowing once after he just looked at her. She thought about him all of the time and began to dream about him.

March 1944

In early March, Anne again became annoyed with the behavior of the adults in the Annex. She believed they were behaving selfishly and didn’t consider other people’s feelings when they spoke. Anne wanted to be free of her parents’ oversight and distanced herself from them because they didn’t treat her like an adult or respect her emotions.

In mid-March, the tension inside of the Annex intensified because the people who had been supplying food and ration coupons to the residents were arrested. While the arrested parties were eventually released, the residents were forced to eat rotten food for a while. The stench was so bad that they had to cover their noses with rags to deal with the rancid smell.

The van Daans would fight with one another constantly, and these fights had a negative effect on Peter. He was frustrated with his parents' constant bickering. He wanted to be close to his parents, but he didn’t feel like he could trust them. He expressed his feelings to Anne and appreciated her company. He said that her support and optimism helped him when he was struggling.

Eventually, Peter and Anne became close enough to openly discuss taboo topics such as sex. Anne admitted that she and Margot hadn’t been told much about sex. Peter, on the other hand, knew quite a bit. He told Anne about contraceptives and the process of puberty for boys. Anne never thought that she could have these conversations with someone of the opposite sex.

Near the end of March, the adults started commenting on the relationship between Peter and Anne. The van Daans nicknamed Peter’s room “Anne’s second home” and made jokes about an Annex wedding. Edith and Otto worried about Anne going into Peter’s room alone because they were afraid that the children would act inappropriately. This led Edith to forbid Anne from visiting Peter’s room. Anne wasn’t willing to give up on Peter easily, and she tried to figure out a way to get around her mother’s restrictions.

April 1944

As food became more scarce, the residents began eating in “food cycles.” A food cycle was a period of time in which they would only eat one type of food. For example, the residents could only get their hands on endives for a while, so they’d eat it at every meal. While they would supplement the dishes with potatoes and beans, the residents grew tired of the lack of variety.

On April 11, a break-in occurred at the warehouse. The men of the Annex heard a loud noise and left the Annex to investigate. When they got to the warehouse, they saw the thieves robbing the shop. Mr. van Daan startled them by crying out, “Police!” The burglars ran and broke down a panel leading outside as they escaped. Mr. van Daan and Peter went down to replace the panel and were seen by two people outside of the warehouse. Afraid that they’d be mistaken for the thieves, Mr. van Daan and Peter ran back to their hiding place and prayed the people outside hadn’t called the police.

Following this encounter, the residents enacted some changes in the Annex:

• Dussel, who had been using the office at night, could no longer use the office to work.
• Peter would patrol the warehouse from 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM.
• The residents couldn’t open their windows anymore.
• The bathroom couldn’t be used after rounds were made.
• A carpenter from the underground resistance made a barricade for the residents.

Peter and Anne became closer both emotionally and physically. One day, Peter and Anne shared a kiss and cuddled in the attic. Anne was exhilarated by the development in their relationship. However, she wondered what her parents would think and worried about the scandal that her actions could cause.

May 1944

The Annex suffered a severe loss after Mr. van Hoeven, the man who helped deliver potatoes to the residents, was arrested for hiding two Jews in his home. Anne lamented the state of the world and questioned the purpose of war. She hated that good people were being arrested for helping others while those driven by hatred were free to roam the streets and persecute others.

After talking with Peter, Anne decided to tell her father about their relationship. While Otto seemed okay with it at first, he wasn’t comfortable with Anne becoming physically and romantically involved. He told Anne that she would have to show more restraint because Peter may get the wrong idea about Anne’s affection and try to get physically involved with her.

In response, Anne wrote her father a letter protesting his suggestion to stay away from Peter. In the letter, she claimed her independence and said that she no longer needed the support of Otto or Edith. Peter made her happy, and she wanted to continue her relationship with him. She told her father that he’d either have to forbid her from visiting Peter altogether or accept that she was going to spend time with him.

Her father was saddened by Anne’s note and told Anne that it was the most hurtful letter he’d ever received. He believed that he and Edith had always supported Anne. While he ultimately forgave her for her words, he was upset by Anne’s lack of gratitude. Anne felt guilty about giving her father the letter. However, she stood behind what she said and wanted to continue her relationship with Peter, even though she didn’t have her father’s approval.

June-August 1944

Though she had become more confident in herself, Anne still struggled with her insecurities surrounding her personality. The adults of the Annex often accused her of being arrogant, and their words made Anne question what she was doing to deserve such a title. She was her own harshest critic and reproached herself for her seemingly unattractive behaviors.

In addition to her insecurity, Anne was concerned about her relationship with Peter. She knew that he liked her, but she felt like something was holding their relationship back. While she appreciated his friendship, she wanted more. She was still desperately in love with him and couldn’t go a day without talking to him. Peter was more closed off than Anne, and she wanted to continue to break through his hardened exterior.

She feared that their fast movement toward intimacy hindered their relationship. She thought that their discussions about sex and their shared kisses actually prevented them from having a deeper relationship in which they talked about more serious things. She regretted the way their relationship had developed and worried that she may never develop the meaningful connection that she wanted.

In her final diary entry, Anne talked about the two sides of her personality. She felt like a walking contradiction, with one side of her being more sarcastic and carefree while the other side wanted deeper and more meaningful connections. She was afraid that people would mock her if she showed her more vulnerable side, and she only let that part of her personality emerge when she was alone.

August 4, 1944 and the Aftermath

On August 4, 1944, the Annex was raided by the SS. It is believed that someone tipped off the authorities to the hide-out. The helpers of the Annex were arrested (with the exceptions of Miep and Bep, who both evaded police custody):

• Mr. Kleiman was released early due to his poor health and remained in Amsterdam until his death in 1959.
• Mr. Kugler escaped imprisonment in 1945 and immigrated to Canada. He lived in Toronto until his death in 1981.
• Bep lived in Amsterdam until her death in 1983.
• Miep lived in Amsterdam for most of her life. Her husband, Jan, died in 1993. She died in Hoorn in 2010.

Dussel, the Franks, and the van Daans were sent to concentration camps:

• Mr. van Daan was gassed to death in Auschwitz in late 1944.
• Mrs. van Daan was sent to 5 different concentration camps. Her cause and time of death are unknown.
• Peter was forced to make the “death march” from Auschwitz to Mauthausen. He died on May 5, 1945. The camp was liberated three days later.
• Dussel was sent to 2 concentration camps. He died in December 1944 in Neuengamme.
• Edith died in Auschwitz in January 1945 of hunger and exhaustion.
• Margot and Anne were both transported from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen. A typhus epidemic was likely the cause of their deaths. Their time of death is unknown.
• Otto was the only resident to survive the concentration camps. He was in Auschwitz when it was liberated by the Russians. He lived in Amsterdam until 1953, then moved to Birsfelden, Switzerland. He remarried and dedicated his life to sharing his daughter’s diary with the world.